Engineer - Crooked Voices
Rating
RIYL
The_NetworkGaza
Botch
Melvins
Release Date
06/07/2011
Label
Black Market ActivitiesTracklist
1. The Idiot’s Theme2. Shape Shifting
3. Bruised Blue Collar
4. Kid Killer
5. Drunk On Blood
6. Scavenger
7. Curse Of The Common Man
8. Vicious Voice
9. Starving Artist
10. Prepared For The Worst
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One of the worst things in a reviewer’s digi-life is having to write a negative review for a band they love. That’s right, ole fanboy over here has been a card-carrying member of Camp Engineer for some time. So when the opportunity arose to tackle Crooked Voices, I leapt at the chance, and was, alas, rewarded with an album of startling mediocrity. The vast majority of the disc’s run-time stays stuck in neutral, when even the tantalizing prospect of “Starving Artist”’s onset backs off just before orgasm, and the ferocious bursts of fury that the band may as well have trademarked have gone Copperfield.
Engineer’s main problem is that on Crooked Voices they sound over-extended. I think I can track the rationale, but by stretching things out to let them breathe, a lot of the potency once wielded with such stunning effectiveness has dissipated; there are substantial sections of the record that feel papery and fragile, not adjectives I ever thought would crop up in an Engineer review. A counter-argument might find itself along the lines of making the heavier sections hit harder, and that might be the case if there were heavy sections that held any real authority. Pay-offs are scant and usually arrive with little fan-fare, sounding oddly sapped of bite. What remains is sometimes a broken vase of the Chariot variety, but certainly too often droll back-drop.
There are a few things that buoyed this album’s score, with the vocals chief among them—remaining the perfect blend of pitched rage and diaphragmatic control—as well as some solid sludge moments and sixth track “Scavenger”’s proximity to Defeater. The outright heavy moments aren’t bad per se, just lacking oomph, a point that bears repeating.
Crooked Voices is not a disaster, despite the fact that I’m being perhaps overly harsh on it. The problem lies as much with expectation as execution, but where the two converge I’m left feeling deeply unsatisfied. A lot of talk was given to the dual influences of the Melvins and Isis on the writing process, and that desire to open things up is I’m sure what led to the seeming dilution. At this point I could defend the band taking a big risk, but of course not all risks are successful.
--Jacob Oliver
Comments
Minnesota
These guys have been on a slow decline since Reproach... sad face.
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